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This week, part 2 of our discussion on compression.
Greg Anderson sent us a link to this youtube video… the Falcon Heavy launch, as viewed from the top of the Vehicle Assembly Building by a bunch of photographers, all captured in glorious binaural! Grab your favourite set of cans, sit back and enjoy!
In the last few days, I’ve discovered Cambridge Music Technology, a site built by Mike Senior (author of “Mixing Techniques for the Small Studio” and writer for Sound on Sound Magazine).
Amongst other things, the site features a whole subsection devoted to multitrack files which have been submitted by various bands, in various genres. These files are availble to YOU to download for free to hone your mixing skills! So, if that’s something you’d like to get involved in, head over here and get busy! And don’t forget to submit your mixes to the forum afterward so you can get some feedback from other engineers.
Doc mentioned that Alan Parsons also has some multiutrack projects available on his site.
And let us know if there’s something in particular you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes.

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This week, the first of two (or maybe three?) episodes on dynamic compression.
Also, I came across this article about the future of audio and the blockchain.
Whilst I’m only just dipping my toes in the waters of cryptocurrencies, I believe blockchain technology IS going to revolutionise copyright ownership in the future. Watch this space.
Also, I have a little rant about the way Waves is advertising its Abbey Road EMI TG12345 Channel Strip.
Who cares if the Beatles used it?
It’s like the whole “Wow, what amazing photos! You must have a really good camera!” line.
Then, Doc and I get onto talking about dynamic compression.
We talk about the 4 main types of compressors (opto, vari-mu, FET, VCA), how they vary, and when you might reach for one over the next.
A couple of links I dug up with all this kind of info are this one at audioundone (and this one is actually an excerpt from “Practical Mastering: A Guide to Mastering in the Modern Studio” by Mark Cousins and Russ Hepworth-Sawyer).
And this one at Universal Audio.
More in the next episode!
Any questions on what we’ve covered so far? You know what to do! 🙂

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This week, we’re on the chicken scratch tour… a.k.a. we ramble on about just about every topic under the console!
But first, a shout out for my man, Mick Rooney, who’s just released an update to AA Translator.
If you’ve ever had the need to exchange multitrack session files with someone who uses a different platform to you, then you NEED this software.

Theodore Goodman wrote to us with a bunch of questions/tips, including the topic of fanless machines for those worried about PC noise contaminating their recordings,
a request for info on multiband compression,
and one that we didn’t get to (Theo, we’ll revisit this down the track!).

This week, Bruce got retrenched,
and Doc is giving his Rode NT1A a crack on the podcast (sounds good!).
We discuss recording hand claps,
signal flow in a console (3 paths),
how you cope with clients who come to the studio with bad ideas,
and we address some listener e-mail.
On the subject of EQ, Doc is a big fan of McDSP filter bank.

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The silence is deafening.
Tell us what you’d like this podcast to focus on, because right now, we’re unsure as to why we’re not getting any feedback.
We love talking about pro audio recording, mixing, mastering and what-not, but we want to know that there is an audience for it.
Drop us an e-mail, hit us up on the Facebook page, or via twitter.

Also, Doc shares a couple of war stories from his career. I’m sure there’s many more where they came from!

This episode, we’re going to dive into different stereo miking techniques, with samples for you to listen to, AND to download and play with!
But first, some follow up from ep#164.
WHY would you flip the polarity on the bottom mic of a snare?
Which somehow led off to a short discussion about room acoustics (a topic for a future episode, to be sure!), in which Doc mentioned a Company called RPG Inc, who specialises in room acoustic treatment.

Then, it’s on to the main topic of conversation…. stereo miking.
After a quick search, I found a couple of articles which covered most of the main stereo miking techniques.

And because mid-side recording/mixing can be so fraught with danger (I’m not even sure I’ve rendered my recording properly, to be honest!), I’m including this link to Universal Audio, who has done a good write-up on the process.

The screen shots I’ve included are from Izotope’s amazing Insight metering plugin.
Izotope’s stuff certainly ain’t cheap, but I do highly recommend their software. Interestingly, Ozone is actually cheaper than what I quoted on the podcast (apologies to Izotope for that!).Grab Ozone here, or you can just get Insight on its own here.

The Tony Faulkner article from Audio Technology magazine is right here.

Samples 10-18 (in the downloadable assets) are collapsed mono renders of the same.

In hindsight, it would have lovely to be have had two figure 8 mics of the same brand at my disposal for the Blumlein and Falukner Phased Array recordings, but sadly, I had to make do with what I had.
I realise it’s not perfect. 🙁

Apologies on this one being a little late out of the gate. We had some minor technical issues which pushed recording back to Sunday morning!
This week, a quick explanation of why we’re NOT doing the stereo miking techniques episode right now, plus Doc talks about AF (audio frequency) transformers in pre-amps versus the power transformers you might encounter in a power supply.
For anyone interested in building their own components (something I’d love to try one day!), check out THAT Corporation and John Hardy Co. for components.
Then, we get onto a discussion about microphone technique. We discuss the difference between end-address and side-address microphones, and about placement of microphones relative to the source you’re trying to mic up.

Examples of end-address microphones:Shure SM57, Electrovoice RE20, Sennheiser MD421 (this is the one Doc said can be incorrectly identified by the unwary as being a side-address design, when it is in fact, end-address).

A sketch of the layout of our studio complex at work. I’ve moved from CR#2 to CR#3.

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Polar patterns
– omnidirectional (completely closed on one side, relies on air PRESSURE)
– – For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that there is a tiny hole in the capsule to the rear of the diaphragm. This is so the microphone can compensate for long-term variations in air pressure. The hole is too small to affect its sonic characteristics. (source)
– figure 8 (open on both sides, relies on air pressure GRADIENT) Sound arriving from the sides presents equal pressure on both sides, hence the null.
– cardioid
– hyper cardioid
– super cardioid

I had planned on getting to proximity effect in this episode as well, but we just didn’t get there. Perhaps in another (or the next) episode. But hit the link if you’re keen to explore.

And the pdf version of the Neumann book, “Microphones for Studio and Home-Recording Applications” can be found here.
Interestingly, the title of the book has changed since my ‘dead-tree’ version was printed, AND the title on the front page of the pdf is not the same as what appears on page 2! But for all that, it’s a FANTASTIC resource if you really want the nitty-gritty on microphones.

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This episode, we welcome Doc Goldstein on board as co-host!
Doc and I chat about his background, and where we see this podcast going from here on out.
We also got a great question from Dave King about PC noise in a recording environment.
I also came across this handy infographic which explains the difference between audio compression and data compression.

I came across this interesting quote from TapeOp #115 regarding the transfer from audio master tape to vinyl:

“The tape machines that were used to play the master tapes were fitted with an extra pre-listen head over to the left of the regular head stack. This head would sample the audio slightly before the regular playback head. The signal would be filtered and used to determine the speed of the leadscrew motor. This allowed the groove spacing to open up just before loud passages and close down during softer passages.”

And I’ve now launched a Sine Language Podcast page on Facebook. If you haven’t ‘liked’ it yet, head on over there and do so! Feel free to post questions and comments there, or e-mail us at our new e-mail address (mentioned in the podcast, and at the closer). That e-mail address will reach both Doc and myself.

Also mentioned in this ep, Mick Rooney’s fantastic AATranslator software.
Mick runs a project studio in Sydney’s western suburbs, called Suite Spot.
In the podcast, I mistakenly said “.com.au” but it’s actually just “.com”, if you’re wondering.

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“Seen a man standin’ over a dead dog by the highway in a ditch lookin’ down kinda puzzled pokin’ that dog with a stick. Got his car door flung open he’s standin’ out on Highway 31. Like if he stood there long enough that dog’d get up and run”

Reason to Believe – Bruce Springsteen

OK, couldn’t resist that, given that Bruce is in town this week, and I saw him play for the zillionth time on Thursday night.
But there’s a reason for that quote.
You are probably thinking right about now that this podcast has faded for the second time, and that it wasn’t coming back. That it had become the proverbial dead dog lyin’ in a ditch.
Well, I’m here to announce that I’m poking it, and it is in fact, about to get back up and run.
As Shutters Inc listeners would no doubt attest, the “2 heads are better than one” philosophy works.
I mentioned late last year that I was kicking around the idea of bringing a co-host on board for Sine Language as well. And as fate would have it, the contributor to this podcast who always had to guard his identity, and who went by the nickname “My man in Hollywood”, has now retired from the industry. But he still loves “talking shop” as much as I do, and he has expressed a willingness to come on board as co-host!
I’m super excited by this! You have no idea!
We’ve been nutting out the details over the last week or two, and it is my hope that the next episode will be out in… well, I don’t want to jinx it, but let’s just say, it’s not far off!
And it will be the moment when I can introduce him to you, and when we will jointly have the opportunity to lay out the roadmap for where Sine Language will go in the future.
His quote, upon reading the draft of this post…

“I would just say that I’m looking forward to the podcast and I expect that I will have to stay up on my toes to keep up, but I’ll do my best.”
#pumped